


The Haunting of the Balouve Mines: Or Prompto's Worst/Best Birthday Ever

by treya_barton



Series: FFXV Halloween Week 2020 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, ffxvhalloweenweek2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treya_barton/pseuds/treya_barton
Summary: Noctis and his companions explore the Balouve mines, and Prompto is pretty miserable until he receives a surprise by his friends.
Series: FFXV Halloween Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985600
Kudos: 17
Collections: FFXV Halloween Week 2020





	The Haunting of the Balouve Mines: Or Prompto's Worst/Best Birthday Ever

To say Prompto was exhausted would be an understatement. The night before, Noctis’s retinue had stayed the night at a haven. It was rather romantic, sitting under the stars next to a cackling fire, sharing stories and relaxing after a long day of travel, until Gladio decided to spice things up by telling a ghost story about a mine, knowing full well they would be exploring one the next day.

After getting thoroughly spooked, they shut down camp for the night and headed to bed, which consisted of crawling into a cramped space that after days on road was starting to smell a little, curled up in a sleeping bag that may have been comfortable if the havens weren’t giant slabs of hard rock, while trying to drown out the sound of daemons crawling about in the darkness surrounding them. Prompto was already a light sleeper as is, and anytime they camped in the tent he would end up getting barely any even on a normal night.

Thus, he woke up bleary eyed and not really all that excited about exploring a mine Gladio had all but cemented in his mind was going to be haunted. And then to top things off, for the first half hour he was pretty much convinced it _was_ haunted. Between the carts that came crashing at them out of nowhere, the flickering lights that kept shutting off, and the eerie laughter they heard in the darkness, he had decided Gladio’s tall tale had been true, up until the point they finally spotted one of the goblins and put two and two together on what was really going on. Prompto hadn’t been particularly nice that afternoon. Usually he would try to do a clean shot, wanting to end their enemy’s misery quickly even if they were daemons, but today he wanted them to hurt just a little bit first.

It also didn’t help that he was claustrophobic. He hated being below ground and how narrow everything was, but tried his best to hide it and not let the others see how nervous he was. He already felt like enough of a burden on the group and didn’t want to add anything else. Then, things got even worse when they encountered a daemon that looked like a samurai. The Aramusha knocked them off the railroad tracks to the level below. They had all been raring for a right after that, until Prompto was the daemon’s first victim and found out first hand that the Aramusha was an expert swordsman when he was taken out with one hit and had to be revived. Prompto was not proud to say he lost track of how many times he needed to be revived, although fortunately he wasn’t the only one.

After that grueling battle that they did manage to win in the end, they finally found another one of Noctis’s ancestor’s tombs and recovered the Bow of the Clever for his armiger. After having to first squeeze through a narrow crack – which, again, _claustrophobia_. Needless to say, when they finally left the mines to the beautiful, yet terrifying view of the sun setting, knowing that in less than an hour they would be dealing with daemons while traveling to where they would be staying for the night, Prompto was dreading another night at the haven. Normally he would whine about it, but he knew after getting the Regalia repaired their funds were tight until they did another hunt. After finding out about a potential royal tomb in the mines, that had taken priority.

So instead, he crawled into the front seat next to Ignis, who always insisted on driving when the sun went down even if everyone knew Noctis preferred napping in the car anyway, and slid down with his arms crossed. Ignis had the roof up, so Prompto did not get the best view of the darkening night sky, but honestly he was too tired to give it his full enthusiasm. His camera was sitting in its bag by his feet instead of in his hands as it often would be while they were on the road, since he was usually on the lookout for another shot.

To his surprise, however, instead of stopping at the haven again as he expected, they continued on to Hammerhead where it appeared Ignis had already rented out the camper for the evening. Prompto’s eyes widened in excitement, and he sat up in his seat. “Hell yeah, we get a hot shower tonight!” he said, jumping out of the car. He had a sudden pep in his step again as he dashed up to the camper like it was a 4-star hotel and not a space only a little bit bigger than the tent. It did have a bed to sleep in and a bathroom and shower, and that was good enough for him. Plus, Ignis had more options to cook since it also had an oven.

He turned around, wondering why the others seemed to be moving so slow, and his eyes widened as he realized they were setting up the table next to the camper with some giftbags and a small cake. It wasn’t a homemade one by Ignis, but it still looked pretty good – he had a feeling that Takka may have made it since it didn’t look like it was store bought. To his surprise, Cindy and Cid were heading over from the garage and a few minutes later Cor popped out from Takka’s diner carrying more bags of food. Prompto walked over to join them, tilting his head in confusion. “What’s all this?” he asked, noting that everyone had turned to look at him with expectant expressions on their faces.

Noctis let out a long, drawn out sigh. “Prom, did you seriously forget your birthday?” he asked.

Prompto suddenly flushed. Honestly, until becoming friends with Noctis, he had stopped really celebrating it with his parents out working all the time, so it was easy for it to slip his mind. Especially with how hectic everything had been on the road trip so far. His mouth dropped open for a moment, and he had to blink back tears. “This is for me?” he choked. Gladio roughly slapped his back.

“We thought we were being clever, pretending we had forgotten your birthday to surprise you. Didn’t realize you were completely clueless though.”

“Happy birthday, Prompto. Please, sit down,” Ignis said, motioning to the seat that was in front of the cake. Prompto slowly sat down, still trying to take everything in, mind reeling from the unexpected turn of events. Cor managed to find a place on the small table to set down the take out from Takka’s diner which smelled amazing, especially after a long day in the mines. 

“Happy birthday,” he said, his steely eyes turning soft for a moment. Prompto gave a quick bow of his head, nervous at receiving attention from The Immortal, which caused Cor to give a rare, small smile before ruffling his hair. He moved back in order to watch.

“Happy birthday, sugar, from me and paw paw,” Cindy greeted. “We had Takka bake you a cake – it ain’t fancy but it’s good!”

Cid also grunted out a happy birthday before sitting back in his chair and looking like he didn’t want to be there, but Prompto supposed just his showing up was good enough. “In case it wasn’t obvious, Cor provided the food,” Gladio said.

“And we provided the presents!” Noctis said, his eyes sparkling.

“When did you have time to do that?” Prompto asked, completely flummoxed. Especially due to the state of Lucis right now – there wasn’t really much they could buy on road.

The three of them exchanged glances, before Ignis gave a polite cough. “We had been planning this surprise before the trip took its unexpected turn. We were supposed to be celebrating your birthday on the boat on the way to Altissia,” he explained.

“So you’ve been carrying these presents this whole time?” Prompto gasped and they all nodded.

“Open mine first,” Noctis said, shoving one of the bags in front of him. The bag was covered in a chocobo design and had the tissue paper haphazardly thrown inside. Prompto reached in and pulled out the paper, before gasping as he saw the gift. 

“Noct,” he said, pulling out a new lens for his camera. He had been saving up for it prior to their trip and had initially been planning on buying it when they inevitably returned. “How did you know?”

“I may have snuck a look at your browser history when pretending to play a round of King’s Knight on your phone,” the king shrugged. “It’s the one you had on your wish list.”

“Sneaky bastard,” Prompto muttered, while his best friend looked overly pleased with himself.

Prompto then looked at the other two bags. One was smaller in a simple black bag from the department store it had been purchased from, while the other almost appeared to be professionally wrapped. He could garner a guess as to who each was from. He pulled out the smaller one first, wondering what Gladio had gotten him. He reached inside and pulled out high quality hair gel along with his favorite brand of cologne; he would ask for it from his parents from Christmas every year and then try to use it sparingly in order to allow it to last until next Christmas. His eyes teared up a little at the thought, and he quickly lowered his face to allow his bangs to hide them until he was able to blink them back.

He then grinned at Gladio. “Thanks! I’m surprised you knew which brand I used. And I can’t wait to try this out in the morning,” he said, waving the hair gel.

“I had Noct take a picture of the products at your place,” Gladio said with a shameless shrug. Prompto turned to frown at Noctis, who looked quite proud of his undercover work.

“Unbelievable,” Prompto huffed before reaching for the final bag. He was really curious over what the Chamberlain would have picked out for him, especially since in previous years Ignis usually just baked the cake. He pulled out a leather vest that reminded him a bit of his Crownsguard vest since it also had patches of plaid on it. It was a different design though with a higher collar and tassels on the front – it looked like it was meant to be zipped up while his normal vest he usually left open. Prompto, who was dressed in his more casual attire that day, pulled it on over his red tank and zipped it up, surprised that while it didn’t cover his arms, it still did help warm him up against the chill night air.

“How do I look?” he asked.

Cindy whistled at him, causing him to shyly blush, while the others did variations of catcalls or sincere compliments. It was honestly higher end than anything he had owned before outside of his Crownsguard fatigues, so he felt a little out of place wearing it. That is until Ignis walked around him with a critical eye. “It fits perfectly,” he said, before giving Prompto a nod of approval.

“Thanks Iggy,” Prompto grinned, before sitting back down. “Well, I dunno about you guys, but I’m starving!”

They all ended up digging into the food, chatting happily and enjoying each other’s company, allowing themselves this small moment of happiness amidst the hardship they were currently facing. Prompto completely forgot about his earlier, horrible day and couldn’t help but feel loved as he was surrounded by his best friends and their allies as they tried to save Lucis. Having small comforts like companionship, good food, and a hot shower and a bed to look forward to really made up for some of the other things he had to face that day. Prompto looked over at Cindy chatting with her grandfather, Noctis regaling Gladio and Cor with a story, while Ignis prepared to light the candles for his cake, and realized that this group of people was what made the struggle worth it.

“Specs lit the candles!” Noctis excitedly announced, capturing everyone’s attention. They all turned to watch in anticipation. “C’mon, Prom, make a wish!”

Prompto closed his eyes, regretting that he didn’t have his camera out to capture a picture of this moment, before blowing, hoping that maybe something out there was hearing his wish and would make it come true. As his eyes re-opened, and Ignis began to cut and distribute the cake, he wondered if in reality, it had already happened.


End file.
